


Cinnamon Rolls

by goldfishoflove



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Baking, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Voidfish innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8615710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldfishoflove/pseuds/goldfishoflove
Summary: The morning after the Eleventh Hour, Taako and Magnus are still rattled by what they've learned. Does talking about it help? Hard to say. Do delicious pastries help? Almost certainly.





	

The morning after Refuge, Taako was the first one awake.

This wasn't unusual. He was the only reclaimer who didn't need sleep; he could stay up late, meditate for a few hours, and roll out of bed while his companions were still snoring. (And boy, did they.) Last night hadn't been the most restful, though, despite his post-adventure exhaustion. For one thing, his surprise conversation with the handsome reaper kept replaying in his head, and he wasn't quite ready yet to think about why. There was something bigger on his mind.

Taako stood barefoot in the kitchen and squinted into the open refrigerator.

The boys didn't really keep the place stocked. It was easy enough to pick up something quick in the Bureau's mess, and they spent half their time away from home anyway. But this time, they had only been gone a couple hours from the moon base's perspective. Not even long enough for the perishables to go bad. Cool. He grabbed eggs and milk, banging the fridge shut with one hip while magehanding a bag of flour down from the shelf. Been a while since he'd made this one, but his hands remembered. Despite himself, he relaxed into the familiar motions, and even slipped into a spell before he caught himself: a sprinkle of flour changed color mid-air, and swirled down into the dough as cinnamon.

Taako looked down at the trace of spice on his hand, lifted it to his nose, and paused.

 _You don't have to do this any more_ , he told himself. _It wasn't your fault._

He tasted it. _It wasn't you._  Definitely cinnamon.

Taako shook his head, threw a towel over the rising dough, and started wiping down the counter.

  
The common space was still empty when Taako pulled the pan out of the oven. He pursed his lips as he spread glaze over the rolls. He'd had more than enough time to think already tonight. How long were humans and dwarves supposed to sleep? Taako threw the spatula into the sink with a resigned sigh and wandered off to shower.

Magnus opened his eyes at the clatter of the spatula. He had been awake for a while, but the sudden noise forced him to admit it to himself. He had collapsed into bed fully dressed last night, and felt sweaty and gross for a few minutes before remembering his private conference with the voidfish. Not sweaty, then, but definitely still gross. Magnus made a face, rolled to his feet, and peeled his shirt off over his head.

When he staggered out of his room in clean pajama pants, the first thing he noticed was a delicious smell. He'd been around when Taako was cooking before, but normally ignored it. The elf never offered to share, and the other two never asked. They were adults and could fend for themselves, although Magnus had never entirely gotten used to scaling everything down to one serving. Somehow, he always ended up with leftovers ... that tasty smell though, damn, that could make a guy feel like he was at home.

Magnus followed his nose to the rapidly cooling pan of cinnamon rolls and paused. Taako wasn't even out here, and there were like twelve of these. He couldn't possibly be planning to keep them all to himself, right? Magnus's stomach rumbled encouragingly. Yeah, these were definitely probably up for grabs. He reached for one.

Taako stepped out of the bathroom, ensconced in steam and old memories. He looked up distractedly, saw Magnus about to take a bite and pointed a finger faster than he knew what he was doing.

"Don't!"

Magnus's wrist halted a foot from his face, gripped by an invisible hand. His eyes were round with surprise.

"Sorry! I thought because they were out they were--"

"Fuck." Taako release the magehand and pressed his real one to his face. "No, I'm sorry. They are. Go for it, my man."

Magnus looked down at the pastry, then up at Taako. "Uh, you sure?"

 _No._  "Yeah." Taako leaned against the doorframe with forced nonchalance. "Seriously, it's fine. I was just startled." _It wasn't you._

Magnus shrugged and stuffed half the cinnamon roll into his mouth. Even in his wound-up state, Taako was indignant at the disrespect for his handiwork. He wandered over the counter, hair dripping freely onto the carpet behind him, and picked up a roll of his own. A considered bite revealed it to be far from his best, but not at all shabby for a recipe he hadn't looked at in eight years.

"Oh mam, taako, thif iv amaving." Magnus beamed, chewed, and swallowed. "How come you've never made these before?"

"Oh, well, you know. Takes all morning. But I figure after the past few days ... years ... uh, yesterday? ... after bringing in the chalice, we deserve it."

"... yeah." Magnus looked down. Sticky or not, his weird confrontation with the voidfish had been a useful distraction. Thinking about his vision from the chalice left a weight hanging deep in his chest. He set the half-eaten cinnamon roll down on the counter and settled instead into an armchair, reaching for a half-carved block on the table nearby.

Taako carried his breakfast into his room and came back a few minutes later in leggings and a huge sweater, licking icing off his fingers. He grabbed another roll and curled up in the corner of the couch next to Magnus. A moment later, he crinkled his nose.

"Dude, what happened to you? You smell like gogurt."

"... I went to see the voidfish last night."

"And what, sucked its dick?"

"Do jellyfish have dicks?!"

"I dunno, ask Johann."

Despite himself, Magnus started to laugh. "JOHANN. I HAVE A QUESTION. IT'S IMPORTANT."

"Yeah man, I know all about the voidfish, what do you need to know?" Taako's Johann impression wasn't very accurate, but it made Magnus laugh hard enough to put down his carving tools out of care for his fingers. He cleared his throat.

"Well, you see, I've been having these urges ..."

Taako almost choked on his cinnamon roll. "Oh yes, because nothing's hotter than a galaxy blob with tentacles."

"Says the guy who grabbed the grim fucking reaper with his own slimy magic fingers."

Taako was horrified to feel a blush rise in his cheeks. "That was practical!" And Magnus had no idea that the same reaper had been in that very chair last night, calm as fallen snow, impeccably tailored suit tight across his--

"Sure it was."

Taako avoided having to answer that by gulping down the last of his roll. Magnus released one last chuckle, wiped a merry tear, and picked up his carving again. A companionable silence fell over the living room.

  
Taako watched Magnus work until he got bored, then disappeared into his room again and returned with a hairbrush. When he dragged it roughly across his still-damp head, Magnus cringed.

"You trying to lose all your hair?"

"What?" Taako stared at him. "I'm just brushing it."

"You're tearing it out is what you're doing. Give me that."

Taako clutched the brush protectively. "What do you know about hair care?"

"More than you, apparently. Give it." Magnus set aside his tools and caught the brush tossed by a suspicious Taako. "Come here."

Taako eyed the empty space in front of Magnus's chair. He settled on folding his legs under him, a foot above the floor, floating comfortably in mid-air.

"Nice." Magnus took tail of Taako's blond mane in one hand, and Taako braced for the expected yank. Instead, he got a gentle pressure on his scalp as Magnus brushed out just the last couple inches, then the next inch higher than that. It felt ... good, actually. Once he got used to it. Taako let his eyelids fall closed as Magnus worked the brush gradually higher through his hair.

"Where'd you learn to do that, dude?"

"I used to do it for someone else a lot."

"Yeah? He had hair like mine?"

"Not as long, but it was really curly. I had to be gentle or she wouldn't let me brush it."

"She trained you well."

"... yeah."

Taako's ears pricked at the tightness in Magnus's voice, but he didn't turn around. He just let his head bob slightly with the motion of the brush as Magnus worked it gradually from the base of his scalp, behind his ears, and up to his forehead. When he could run it smoothly from roots to tips without finding a knot, he stopped and passed the brush back to Taako.

"Thanks."

Magnus waited a few seconds for the joke before realizing with a start that it wasn't coming.

"... you're welcome."

Taako stood gracefully from his invisible seat and settled back down on the couch. Magnus was still staring straight ahead to where he had been a moment ago, eyes focused somewhere years away. Just as Taako was thinking about worrying, he asked,

"Taako?"

"Yeah?"

"What did the chalice offer you?"

Taako stiffened and Magnus hastily added, "I don't blame you if you don't want to tell me. But I thought ... if it was anything like mine ... maybe it would help."

Help? Taako imagined explaining how forty people had died from eating his cooking, while he could still see a little bit of icing at the corner of Magnus's mouth, and winced. He opened his mouth to refuse, but just before the words came out he realized what Magnus had actually just said.

"... it sounds like you're the one who wants to talk about it."

Magnus frowned and shook his head. "I'm all right."

"I don't need a zone of truth to see through that one, boyo."

Magnus snorted. Taako waited, though, until Magnus took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "It, um. ... it offered me my family back."

Something flipped over in Taako's stomach. "Oh."

"I didn't know about the attack. But I could have been there. Should have."

Taako reached desperately for something to relate to, some reason he could claim he understood. As Magnus recounted the story of Raven's Roost, he found himself wondering what it was even like to have a place where people expected you back all the time. Every day, even. He wouldn't be able to stand it, he was pretty sure.

Either that, or he'd never leave.

When Magnus's words got too cracked to continue, he buried his face into his hands, with no delusion that Taako wouldn't notice the tears dripping from his chin. He hadn't meant to talk about any of this yet, but once he'd started the rest just spilled out of him like an open wound. Which it was, he supposed. Holding steadfast when someone else was in pain was easy. It was uncomfortably alien to spread out his own for someone else.

Taako sat in silence while Magnus composed himself, then gave him a weak smile. "Yep, yours was way worse than mine."

Magnus grunted. He wiped his face with his hands, then screwed up his nose at the ichor residue on both. "Okay, this is too gross. I'm going to go take a shower." He stood up and took a couple of steps towards the bathroom.

Taako got up, turned towards his room, then stopped and turned back. "Hey, Magnus."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Magnus stopped and stared. "For what?"

"For ... that thing you just said." Taako waved a hand vaguely. "I don't ... know if I could have done that. Said no to that. So I'm glad it was you and not me."

Magnus met his eyes. For a second they just looked at each other, and then in two long strides Magnus closed the distance between them and scooped the wizard into a crushing hug.

Taako flailed. "AUGH THBBT DON'T GET YOUR JELLYFISH SPUNK ON ME YOU PERVERT."

"Aw, you love it."

"AUGH."

Magnus released him with a smile. "Fine." He got halfway across the room this time before stopping and turning around again. "Hey, Taako."

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

 _For asking. For listening. For whatever you gave up to save the world that you're not even willing to tell me. For saying thanks._ "For the cinnamon roll."

Taako brightened. "You liked that, huh?"

"Yeah! You should cook stuff for us more often."

"... maybe I will."

Magnus disappeared into the shower, and Taako flipped to an empty margin in his book. After a moment's thought, he started making a list:

 

cream  
baking soda  
chocolate chips  
pastry flour  
...


End file.
